Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature

Norges Naturvernforbund

Type	NGO
Industry	Environmental organization
Founded	1914
Headquarters	Oslo, Norway
Area served	Norway
Key people	Lars Haltbrekken (Chairman)
Employees	30 (2007)
Website	www.naturvern.no

The Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature (Norwegian: Norges Naturvernforbund), also known as Friends of the Earth Norway and commonly abbreviated NNV is the largest Norwegian environmental organization with 28,000 members. The organization is based on a volunteer work among the members, constituting work both at local and national levels. NNV works within a large range of environmental areas. The organization is affiliated with Friends of the Earth, and member of INFORSE-Europe.

History

The society dates back to 1914 as the National Association for Natural Conservation (Landsforeningen for Naturfredning). In 1916 the association started its work after three regional chapters had been founded, and the first Chairman was Hjalmar Brock. The society changed its name in 1936 to the Landsforeningen for Naturfredning i Norge, and again in 1951 to Landsforbundet for naturvern i Norge. Its current name is from 1962. The first issue of the membership magazine Norsk Natur was published in 1965 and two years later Nature and Youth (Natur og Ungdom) was founded as the youth branch.
International activities include an educational project in 16 countries on sustainable energy and practical energy saving measures SPARE, which is also part of the INFORSE-Europe cooperation school activities. The SPARE activities started in eastern European countries in 1996-99, and became introduced in the previous Soviet Union countries since 2005, where it is spread in 7000 schools (2008).

Organization

The organisation has 18 county chapters and 155 local chapters throughout the country. In addition it has the youth branch Nature and Youth (Natur og Ungdom) and the children's branch Eco-detectives (Miljøagentene). Head offices are located in Oslo while there is a marine office in Bergen and a Barents Sea office in Steigen. The foreign work is led from Asker. In total the NGO has about 30 employees, some working in the county offices throughout the country. NNV published the magazines Miløjournalen and Natur & Miljø.

Since 2005 Chairman has been Lars Haltbrekken while Genereal Secretary since 2007 has been Jan Thomas Odegard. The organization highest authority is the bi-annual meeting, and in between these it is led by a 23-member national board (consisting of the County Chairmen and representatives from subordinate organizations and employees) as well as a six-member central board, consisting since 2007 of Lars Haltbrekken, Tone Skau Jonassen, Elin Lerum Boasson, Ståle Undheim, Per Flatberg and Ingeborg Gjærum.

The organisation is part of the 30 national organisations that Friends of the Earth Europe represents and unites at the European level.